It was 1987 that the news came. It would strike the heart of every fan baseball park
fan like no other news had before. It was perhaps worse in some ways then the
Tigers moving out of Tiger Stadium or the Yankees moving to a new ballpark that
looked like it belonged in Atlantic City more than New York City. In 1988,
the Birmingham Barons would cease playing at Rickwood Field… and move here to Hoover
Metropolitan Stadium, thus ending professional baseball at the eldest ballpark
in the world.